Thursday, 14 May 2015

Energy and marine propel RINA international growth

Expanding
international testing, inspection, certification and consulting engineering
group RINA has grown strongly during 2014, propelled by an upturn in marine, acquisition
in the energy sector and international diversification. Turnover for 2014 grew
13 per cent to Euro 333 million. EBITDA (adjusted) grew to Euro 37.7m.

Ugo Salerno, Chairman and CEO of RINA S.p.A., says,
“2014 was an important year for RINA. We were not only able to seize
opportunities for new business around the world such as major development projects
in Egypt and Turkmenistan, but we were also able to take advantage of signs of recovery in
shipping and opportunities in energy. We now look forward with optimism because
our spirit of innovation, our deep research and strong competences give us a
platform for success. The hard work of our people, their talent for constantly
reinventing themselves to meet the market needs and their ability to cross
frontiers and feel at home everywhere underpin RINA’s development.”

Results for
RINA’s Energy business line stood out in 2014, growing 23 per cent thanks to
the consolidation of the acquisition of materials specialist CSM (Centro
Sviluppo Materiali) and outstanding growth in countries such as Indonesia and
Brazil.

Floating offshore units have a specific focus within
RINA. They include offshore support vessels, mobile drilling rigs, offshore
field construction units, oil and gas import and export offshore terminals and
floating production and storage units. Class and class related specialist
services to this sector grew throughout 2014, totalling at the year’s end about
1.45m GT and 320 units in operation or ongoing new building and conversion
projects.

The Marine
business grew 5 per cent. RINA Services, the group company which delivers ship classification
and certification ended the year with a classed fleet of 5,166 vessels
totalling 34m GT and with an order book for 680 vessels totalling 4.6m GT. RINA
also confirmed its place as the global leader in classification of passenger
ro-ro ferries and ro-ro vessels in general and as a major player in the cruise
ship sector, whether measured by classed fleet or new order book.

New orders in 2014 included two mega cruise ships for MSC Cruises. The
5,300-passenger vessels will be built by Fincantieri and will include
innovative open spaces and very high environmental performance. RINA Services
is also classing a significant jumboisation project for MSC Cruises, the
Renaissance Project. Also in the cruise sector Seabourn Cruise Line ordered two
604-passengers luxury cruise vessels to RINA class at Fincantieri and RINA
class was chosen for two similar vessels to be built for Silversea Cruises.

Within the
rest of the group, Business Assurance grew 3.5 per cent and Transport and Infrastructures
grew 20 per cent and for the first time were able to compete in major projects
outside Italy. Food testing and certification grew 13 per cent with Agroqualità,
RINA’s food company, becoming the leader in South Italy and the second largest
nationally.

RINA’s
consulting engineering company D’Appolonia grew 7 per cent thanks to diversification and international growth in
areas such as theMozambique,
India, Uruguay, USA.

RINA’s group strategy
of growth through targeted acquisition continued with the acquisition of
material specialist CSM, Tunisian food laboratory Lab21, Brazilian certification
company Bracert and marine survey company Hayes Stuart in Canada. This
international growth was underpinned by the capital investment of Intesa
Sanpaolo and Vei Capital who together provided Euro 25m in capital and put at the
disposal of the group a further Euro 75m to fund the international growth plan.

RINA is a multi-national group which delivers
verification, certification, conformity assessment, marine classification,
environmental enhancement, product testing, site and vendor supervision,
training and engineering consultancy across a wide range of industries and
services. RINA operates through a network of companies covering Marine, Energy,
Infrastructures & Construction, Transport & Logistics, Food &
Agriculture, Environment & Sustainability, Finance & Public
Institutions and Business Governance. With a turnover of over 330 million Euros
in 2014, over 2,750 employees, and 163 offices in 60 countries worldwide, RINA
is recognized as an authoritative member of key international organizations and
an important contributor to the development of new legislative standards.